In Which Carmen Hates this Valedictorian Gig

I received a phone call last night from my counselor--apparently, the Washington Post wants a picture and a copy of my speech. The Post. The DC newspaper.

Could this get any worse?

Now I'm obsessing over every word of my speech, inserting and deleting commas, looking for better verbs and nouns--in general, dying. But whatever. Graduation's tomorrow, I'm sending the class off then, and after that it's over. Thank God.

( Speech, Final Draft )